Article Type: Preview
Article Date: June 04, 2001
A Change of Pace
Life is too complicated. You’re tired of avionics or the undersea battle. You want to be a simple mercenary in a time when there are just good guys and bad guys. But you still want a battle that involves tactics—correct weapons and their application, efficient choice of fighting force, tactical placement of warriors.
MechCommander didn’t hold my attention. The graphical world wasn’t alive enough. While many of the concepts were good, the implementation didn’t grab my imagination.
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Meet the team  |
Help for the Novice
It looks like MechCommander 2 (MC2) will change all that. Better still, it offers a friendly implementation with great voice-over training missions. I’ll need that, because I am basically new to the mech world.
Neither does the helpful voice instruction end with the training missions. Excellent use of strategic briefing information is made when completing a major objective. A voice communication reminds you of important information with regard to attaining the next objective. Makes sense, tactically, that there would be voice communications from the team leader, and it really simplifies the game for the novice.
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| Mission Briefing |
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| Briefing from the Boss |
Graphical Appeal
MC2 is another one of those games that really makes the best of a big monitor. It looks fantastic at 1280x1024 on my 19” display, and has me wishing for a 21” unit.
Watching these small machines make their way over all kinds of terrain populated with realistic looking buildings, trees and objects is quite an experience. Pathfinding works very well, and I’ve only had the odd mech get stuck somewhere running in circles (probably a beta problem yet to be fixed). The articulation—twisting at the “waist”, bending at the knees and bobbing as they run—is simply incredible.
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| Hitting the fuel tank takes out the area |
Explosions and effects are impressive. In fact, footprints even appear on the terrain where your mechs have traveled, and little clouds of dust are kicked up by the impact of the huge feet.
The Tactical Game
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| Control interface. Tabs at left include Sensors and Support. At right control interface gives you control of your units without keyboard access. |
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| Creating a crossfire |
But it isn’t the graphics that will keep your attention. After learning the ropes and then playing four missions, I am enjoying the tactical gameplay. The missions flow nicely into each other, with video briefings, then you get the opportunity to make adjustments to your team, or even to modify your mechs. Once you find yourself on the mission, you have a clear list of objectives, and the goal is to accomplish the mission with as few losses as possible. In the process you attempt to salvage enemy units when possible and also grab any extra resources that are available. This way you can expand and equip your team for the more difficult missions.
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| Salvaging an enemy mech |
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| I have a bad feeling about this... |
My only complaint at this point is that my mechs are often destroyed by being too close to another mech whose power plant is exploding . . . very annoying. On the other hand keeping them separated from one another makes it more difficult to use them as a unit. I’ve learned to use the HOLD POSITION command, but there is apparently a bug in the beta relating to all this that has just been killed.
Part of the process is learning what to avoid. If there is a fuel truck parked near an enemy mech, don’t get too close. Rather, target the truck and the explosion takes out the enemy for you. Some other building types are also dangerous when exploding, like generator buildings.
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| Tactical Position |
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| Tactical Placement |
Tactical placement of units is very significant. Creating a crossfire can really be a problem for enemy units. Likewise placing your long range mechs on a hill can make it very hard on shorter range weapons to engage you. Before they can get into decent range they can be eliminated. Using sensor specialists helps in this type of engagement.
I have resorted to using the HOLD POSITION command a lot so that my mechs engage from a greater distance. I’ve also resorted to separating them into at least two groups, and then moving them back as they are approached by other mechs. This may be less necessary on release with the killing of the forementioned bug.
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| He who fights and runs away . . . |
It is possible to create fighting units out of individual mechs and thus quickly issue orders to units instead of individual units. The command interface really works very well, with a scroll wheel mouse and the on-screen interface enabling the player to maintain efficient control of his units.
Waypoints and Mods
Multiple waypoints can be set with a simple mouse click, and they can be shown on-screen by holding down the CTL key. Viewing perspective is easily adjusted with the right mouse button, and the viewing angle can be quickly slewed to match your desired vantage point. Alternatively, one right clicks on a particular unit to keep that unit centered in view as the mechs move.
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| Modify your mech in the Mech Lab |
Every time you finish a mission you have opportunity to buy and sell mechs, or to modify your existing mechs. You can also select a specialty for any of your pilots who have scored a certain number of kills in the previous mission. These specialties range from special skills with certain weapons to special piloting skills with a certain class of mech.
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| Pilot Specialty |
I found the third mission challenging enough that I decided to modify all four of my mechs. Two of them I modified to match the specialties of my pilots, two others I modified for maximum long range fire power. The changes paid off almost immediately. I had played through the mission about five times before I changed my mechs, but two more plays with modified mechs had me win the mission.
If you happen to have a unit like the Strategic Commander, MC2 will really roll along nicely. Some commands do require key presses; M for a medium range attack, or L for a long range attack, for example. Naturally, you also have support available when you have the necessary resources, so you can order air strikes, fixed artillery, sensor probes and the like. Voice control should also work great with this one.
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| Simply beautiful |
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| MC2 also has night missions. |
The game is looking good and has my attention. About the only feature lacking is a replay mode where you could save a film and send it to a friend to show off a great tactical move. With a game that looks this good, you want to show it off!
